


The Butcher of Komarr Meets the Conscientious Lieutenant Rosemont

by Dira Sudis (dsudis)



Category: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: Gen, Imminent Death, One-Sided Attraction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-27
Updated: 2013-10-27
Packaged: 2017-12-30 15:36:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1020393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dsudis/pseuds/Dira%20Sudis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>That misguided but admittedly courageous blond boy in the clearing.</em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Butcher of Komarr Meets the Conscientious Lieutenant Rosemont

**Author's Note:**

> I've been listening to the _Shards of Honor_ audiobook, and when that exchange of dialogue occurred, this happened in my head. Many thanks to Iulia for giving it the green light!

Aral had been expecting a woman in command of the Betans. He supposed he should have known better than to trust any of the intelligence he received, given the makeup of his communications section, but it had seemed plausible. He'd allowed himself to believe that would make it easy. A woman would surely back down before this show of force--would be eager to accept assurances of her people's safety in exchange for cooperation.

And the sort of woman who would be in command of a Betan survey team would not be nearly as distracting to Aral as this handsome, athletic blond boy. _Lieutenant_ , he called himself, though he showed less discipline than the ten-year-old Imperial Scouts Aral had seen on parade the last time he was in Hassadar. He was currently blustering at Aral in what he seemed to imagine was a spirited defense of his people.

Aral raised a hand to cut off the youth, and some idiot--Taffas?--took it as a signal and fired a wild shot of disruptor fire, spooking all the Betans. The lieutenant took off with a shout, managing to bowl over one of Aral's men with an admittedly solid rush. He was firing stunner blasts over his shoulder at nothing, and Aral couldn't help staring after him in bemused admiration for a few seconds. 

He really was... very athletically built; those tan Betan uniforms seemed to be made of a very soft fabric. It was going to be rather a waste to kill such a beautiful boy.

Still, Aral had his hand on his nerve disruptor, preparing to take the obvious shot and put him down, when he was shot himself. He just had time to think _But who would shoot me in the back with a_ stunner _?_ before everything went dark.


End file.
